ATHENS, W. Va. – Concord University and the Mountain Lion men's basketball family mourn the passing of former head coach Don Christie, who passed away Saturday April, 13 at the age of 83.
Christie was the head men's basketball coach at Concord from 1978-89. In that time, he led Concord to 171 wins and West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships in 1978-79 and 1988-89. Before coming to Concord he coached at Salem College for 17 seasons, where he accumulated 216 wins. Christie's 387 career victories rank third in WVIAC history.
Christie was a 1948 graduate of Scott High School (Madison, W.Va.) and a 1952 graduate of Salem College. He earned his master's degree from West Virginia University in 1960. After four years in the United States Air Force as a jet pilot, he attained the rank of First Lieutenant.
In 1956 he began his teaching and coaching career at Salem High School, where he taught mathematics and coached boys' basketball, football and baseball.
Christie accepted the position of men's basketball coach and mathematics professor at Salem College in 1960. He coached numerous All-WVIAC players including All-American and National Player of the Year Archie Talley. His 216 wins at Salem rank second in school history.
In 1977 Christie moved onto Concord College (now University), where he won two WVIAC championships and coached six first team All-WVIAC honorees in
Will Johnson, Tracy Poindexter, David Darnell, Julius Lockett, Todd Lusk and Ron Ward. He won 171 games for Concord, the second-most in school history behind only
Steve Cox, who was a longtime assistant under Christie.
He served as Concord's Director of Athletics from 1989 until his retirement in 1998. In addition to his duties within the athletic department, Christie also taught mathematics at Concord and was the Assistant Director of Admissions for 12 years.
Christie's achievements were rewarded when he was inducted into the Salem College Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Concord University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. Christie is considered to be one of the outstanding gentlemen of college athletics in WVIAC history.
He was married to Jean Brown Christie, his loving wife of 59 years, on May 8, 1953.
Plans for a memorial service in honor of Christie to be held at the Carter Center are currently pending.
